


he who fights with monsters

by orphan_account



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Asphyxiation, Blood Drinking, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-09
Updated: 2011-03-09
Packaged: 2017-10-16 19:56:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asleep in the Chamber of Waking with his heart lost to the stars, Ven finds that there's nowhere left for him but the confines of his own mind - there's nothing left for him but his own nightmares.</p>
            </blockquote>





	he who fights with monsters

After the end, nothing changes—at least, not that Ven can see.

(not that he sees much, these days. Just white, all around him; white floors and white walls and white behind his eyes, the foam sitting on a bottomless ocean of nothing at all.)

.

 _"Ventus? Well, well—never thought I'd—"_

 _Ven breathes in and breathes out. The air is warm, stifling—his eyes hurt, for some reason he can't remember. He scours his mind and all that comes up is some faint, far-away complaint about light. But it's pitch-black, now, and suddenly he gets this feeling like he's—_

 _"—see_ you _again."_

 _teetering right on the edge of the end of the world, like he's looking into the abyss only to find something looking back. Ven can hear laughter, and it's all too close for comfort.  
_  
.

Ven can't remember much. There's the occasional flash of clarity, the feeling of catching himself right on the brink of something—something _important_ —

(something he needs to remember. He keeps these things at the forefront of his mind, takes a hold of them like a knee to his chest and promises to never let go. But he always does—they fall apart and drift away like shipwrecks out at sea, and, eventually, so does the feeling of losing them.)

but they pass as quick as they come. Ven thinks there isn't much of a rush, anyway; he has a lot of time to start remembering things, because—

( _because…why_?)

.

( _And then there's this feeling, like;_ ) __

 _Vanitas splays his fingers out against Ven's chest, right where his heart should be, and Ven screams and screams and_

 __( _clouds clearing, or storms dying, or the sun rising—like he can_ see.)

.

  
Ven isn't sure where he is, or what he's doing. He's stuck in this strange state of—

( _he's with Terra. He's with Terra and Aqua, and they're home and everything's alright, now—or maybe it always was. Ven thinks back but nothing comes up, nothing but right here and right now. Something about that unnerves him—_ this isn't right, this isn't where I was before, that isn't Terra and that isn't Aqua _—and he's almost about to ask if this is even real when Terra laughs with a voice that isn't his and says_ ;)

not knowing what's real, anymore. He's starting to wonder if maybe he's just nowhere at all, because—

( _"Giving up already?" Vanitas flashes him a smile with too many teeth. Ven tries to run but something's_ wrong _, his body won't listen to him—_ )

it all feels familiar, somehow. It feels like he's dreaming, it feels like he's stuck—like his mind's skipping and looping and going nowhere but in circles.

.

 _Ven thinks that he's been here, before. Sand and dirt kick up around his ankles, and the wind howls in his ears, and Vanitas wraps his bony fingers around Ven's neck and Ven is_ sure _that he's been here before._

 _"Look at me, Ventus," Vanitas hisses, tightening his grip, and Ven gags. He wonders vaguely if Vanitas really is trying to kill him—somehow, the thought doesn't scare him._

 _It doesn't make him feel much of anything._

.

Ven's beginning to think that maybe the reason everything seems to be going nowhere is because now—

( _"Giving up already?" Terra says, smirking. Ven laughs and_ —wait, haven't I—)

there _is_ nowhere to go.

.

 _"I like you so much more without a heart," Vanitas says; his smile's so wide that it's threatening to tear his face apart. Ven twitches like a fish on land, feeling blood start to well up where Vanitas' nails have split the surface of his skin, and tells himself, 'None of this is real'._

 _Of course, Vanitas takes his hands away before Ven suffocates—he isn't going to die in a dream, he's not going to lose his life to something that isn't even real. But it still_ hurts _, and Ven gulps in air, heaving and gasping and—_

 _Vanitas leans over and licks away the droplets of blood from his neck and_ none of this is real _._

.

Ven knows, now. He knows that—

(none of this is real— _Vanitas bites down on his shoulder, pulls away with scarlet smeared across his mouth_ —none of this is real— _Vanitas presses his fingers into the soft flesh where Ven's jaw meets his neck, relishes in the dry choking-noises and the shivering and the tears_ —none of this is real—

 _Vanitas forces their mouths together in what can only be considered a mockery of a real kiss, and Ven tastes his own blood. He can feel Vanitas' lips against his, stretching into a smile_.)

this is just in his mind. It all is.

.

 _"Come on—this all you got?"_

 _Ven heaves and brings up nothing but spit. There's dirt on his face and blood-trails on his chest and a hand on his back, pushing him into the ground; there's a taste in his mouth like venom. Vanitas thrusts against him, harsh and careless—nothing but violence, nothing but what Ven imagines he should be. Ven closes his eyes and thinks there's nowhere left for him but the confines of his own mind; there's nothing left but his own nightmares._

.

Eventually, everything blurs together. Time starts to mean nothing and Ven still dreams of Terra and Aqua and Vanitas, always Vanitas—but they're all the same people, now. He can't remember the different inflections of their voices or the exact colours of their eyes, and soon enough they're nothing but vessels for Ven to pour his own empty soul into. They stop being people and start being the shape of everything Ven fears.

( _"Giving up already?" Vanitas says, for what might be the tenth time or the hundredth. Ven can't_ tell.)

.

(Ten years into the future and a thousand worlds away, the ocean carries a message-in-a-bottle to where it needs to be.

Curled up on his throne—forever in wait of his prince, a veritable Sleeping Beauty—Ven stirs.)


End file.
